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UCLA coaching update

Any work being done on the UCLA coaching search is either on the extreme down low or just on hold right now.

Former NFL coach Jim Mora Jr. remains a prime target, according to a source, and while he has been in contact with UCLA officials, not much was happening as of late Thursday.

UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero was back in town Thursday after spending the last few days in New York, but if he’s making progress on finding a new football coach he’s keeping things low key.

SMU coach June Jones, who seemed to be in line for the Arizona State job before the Sun Devils abruptly called off talks, could be a fallback option at UCLA. However, a source indicated Thursday he was unaware if Guerrero had reached out to Jones.

Vinny:
So, nothing new from Guerrero … gross indecision; lurking in the dark way out of touch from the students, alumni and fans he is supposed to be serving; pompously cruising the ‘hood after hours in his lowered ’64 Impala; banging a few hoes.
The difference? This week he did it in 5-star hotels.

rejn

Vinny – So, does this mean that Mora looks like the front runner? Is prime target your way of saying front runner? Or, did someone else come into the picture today that could be the new front runner?

Ted

@uclaoftherockies…come on really…your a parent right? and an alumni of one of the greatest institution of higher learning? Have some class.

The Blur

Fine with me. I don’t see the big deal in hiring a coach so soon. It kills me that people complain DG still hasn’t hired anyone, yet they hate all the names being mentioned.

Kenny

I’m so sick of reading bruin nation. Seem’s like they are dictating our whole coaching search. They are a bunch of babies who do all this research on every coach who they feel is a bad hire. Everyone has baggage no matter who you are. They want Mullen as our next coach, and I don’t see why. Tressel is a excellent recruiter with ties on the east coast. Tressel has won something all these candidates haven’t. A Championship. Sign him already.

bskb

Seconded on bruinsnation being problematic. I’ve never seen such a ridiculous amount of whining, complaining and jockeying for position to say “I told you so” should anything go wrong.

They have no official “best guy” but everybody is bad in their eyes. 2 years from now we will hear about how we missed out on Leach even though they didn’t like him. Or how about we missed out on Rich Rod, even though they didn’t like him. I get that there are people who are bad picks, but the pounding negativity is getting old.

FG UW ffan

Dude,
I really can’t think of a more foolish thing than going after Tressel. The man repeatedly did underhanded stuff at Youngstown St. Then he boldly lied to his AD, repeatedly, while his truly ineligible players were selling memorabilia to drug dealers for free tattoos, and illegally signing memorabilia to car dealers for a different free leased car every 6 weeks?

You guys really want Guerrero to hire a guy like that?

Surrender Monkey

Oh no. Is this Mora guy any good? Wouldnt Trestle be a better coach? Too many people harass me. I’m ready for a winner.

http://http:://www.yahoo.com BruinRob

This is ridiculous, whatever happened with Bellotti?

Lifelong Bruin Fan

Kenny: The “moderators” at Bruins Nation (and I use quotes because they are not moderate in the least) are immature fascist wannabes with short tempers who breed hate and do not hesitate to bully and ridicule others with differing opinions through use of rude and abusive language.

I lasted less than a week there after I stood up for an unpopular opinion (at least on their site) and defended myself with intelligent debate while fending off one insult after another. After I finally backed one of the junior Brown Shirts into essentially admitting that their site is NOT a forum for intelligent discussion but one to further the agenda of a few people, I was banned and my final post removed because it embarrassed them. Note that I never used any foul language.

In any case as for the coaching search, I think Mora would be fine even though he wasn’t my first choice and people have reservations about him. His NFL record is underestimated; he was NFC Coach of the Year and had the second best all-time head coaching team record with the Atlanta Falcons. People point to his 5-11 season with the Seahawks but he inherited a 4-12 team from Hall of Fame coach Mike Holmgren. It is true that he is an unknown commodity at the college level, but FWIW my sense is that he has the potential to be a homerun hire. Some say his style is more suited to the college game. He’s hungry, competitive, no nonsense, and he WANTS to be here. I like those qualities.

If we could also land Tressel as his assistant (as has been rumored, although I’ll believe it when I see/hear it) without incurring sanctions, it would turn into a grand slam. He is undoubtedly one of the finest if not the finest coach anywhere and he has the record to prove it. He did make some mistakes at OSU and he lost his job over it, but as long as he is committed to running a clean program at UCLA, I would welcome him.

Brock

In my opinion, we must go to a spread offense. It will be easier to recruit guys in LA. SC would recruit for more pro set players while we concentrate on speedy spread guys. Go for June Jones, NOW!

NorthCampusBruin

Bruinsnation has absolutely zero interest in hiring a good coach. In case you haven’t realized by now it’s not a site in service of the betterment of the students, sports programs, or university. It’s a site designed to service the egos of a handful of insecure D-Bags that were never taught the difference between negative and positive attention.

These guys live for UCLA related crisis and uncertainty because it affords them the unique opportunity to make a big chaotic situation all about THEM. Since other then this site there’s very little in the way of daily Bruin news, everyone is forced to play along in their narcissistic make believe reality show or get banned. The frustration and anger leads to more views and more posts and more chatter which over enough time legitimizes them as a “Bruins News Source” in the eyes of lazy media.

So for the love of God, please stop going to their site for any reason. Even if it’s just to see what stupid nonsense their talking about today. Most sites have to ban “trolls” but in this case that site is the troll. Stop feeding it!

Anon

What’s the big deal of not naming a new coach by now? That’s because most of the other DIV 1 schools that fired their coaches already hired their replacements. Meanwhile we don’t even have a clue who’s our front runner and worst yet we got rejected.

Anonymous

every time I see the words bruin and nation in the comments section, I completely ignore it and move on. idgaf what those idiots are doing over there. I’ve been to the site and there are reasons I don’t go back. there’s no need to complain about it here.

just wanted to throw it out there.

Jono

I just recently started reading Bruins Nation (like, within the past 2 weeks) and was appalled by how ridiculous it is over there. What a fascist and narrow minded community. I’ll stick with Jon Gold, thank you very much.

Maze

@Brock: Best…comment…ever. Seriously, you just “won the Internet”. Well done, sir…well done.

Maze

North Campus Bruin, FTW!! Awesome take…agree wholeheartedly

Brock

Haha. Thanks maze. Brock for AD?

ucla-of-the-rockies

Brock: Yes!

Anonymous

Juno how can you mock the Nation? They have such stunning wit and insight. I mean, they call Dan Guerrero “Chianti Dan”. Jesus Christ that’s brilliant, modern day Voltaires I tells ya. Nothing represents our school better than a bunch of petulant name calling children.

Bruin Gold

Bruinsnation is a joke. They are one of the prime contributing factors UCLA has done so poorly over the past 10 years.

Jim Tressel is a proven winning coach who would easily turn UCLA into at least USC-like winning program. I would like to see that. Particularly if he has learned his lesson to keep things clean. He has many ties to the East – which is a good thing when it comes to recruiting high calibre players from the East – which UCLA hasn’t done in over a decade.

Jim Mora is a high quality coach with NFL experience, who could also turn UCLA around. He is also young enough to keep UCLA on top for years to come.

The biggest problem with UCLA is that it doesn’t have the best facilities for the football team. Football has taken a back seat to basketball for years at UCLA. How can you recruit top players if UCLA has poor training facilities for football. Come on now. Why is UCLA’s training field only 80 yards long when a football field is 100 yards? Why do they use plastic goal posts in the practice field? That is amateur. You can’t win unless you have professional facilities.

scidiot

Tressel cannot be hired as HC. There is a real chance that he will be hit with a show cause sanction that would prevent him for being hired for a year or two.
.
Brock you seem to be saying that a spread should be adopted as bruins could get players that SC doesn’t want in the pro style offense. So instead of going head to head with SC, it would be head to head with the ducks. If facilities are not improved that is not a winning formula either. Who doesn’t want to spend the summer “interning” at Nike and designing future duck uniforms? Isn’t there enough talent in LA to go to any style offense if you get the right recruiter.

Steph

To add to NorthCampusBruin’s take: Bruins Nation is a perfect study in the practice of “letting the perfect destroy the good” when it comes to to the HC search. I have never seen a bigger chip on one’s collective shoulder. And that fascist leader Nestor has the biggest chip of ‘em all. (First taste of authority maybe?)

I would love to see an alternative blog for the more discerning (read: more sane) UCLA alumni.

Lifelong Bruin Fan

NorthCampusBruin: “Everyone is forced to play along in their narcissistic make believe reality show or get banned.” Brilliant!

Bruin Gold: Surely you don’t believe that BN has that much influence (or any) that it would affect performance on the field? Not sure I understand your take on this. I do understand that it is breeding numerous childish malcontents, however.

Brock: I see your point but trying to avoid competition with USC for certain types of players seems somewhat like a losing mentality. As far as I recollect, UCLA recruited on par with USC throughout the 80s and 90s, so I don’t see why it cannot do so again in the future as long as we rejuvenate our program. That said, I have no inherent opposition to the spread. I just want to have a tough defense though.

Steph: I totally agree. There is great need for another UCLA blog. This blog is filling that niche to some degree but it is held back by the interface. (Eg. BN has threads, posts automatically update so there is no need to refresh, etc.) Maybe the Daily News will recognize that need and upgrade?

sandiegobruinfan

For what it’s worth (and it isn’t much), Simers from the LAT and the Seattle Times UW blog contend UCLA has courted Steve Sarkisian this week. I’d be stunned if we could yank him out of UW after he just received a contract extension and they’ve just started stadium renovations.

@Lifelong Bruin Fan: Absolutely agree on the need for a legit D.

FG UW fan

FWIW, Simers at LA Times wrote that UCLA “should go after” Sark, not that UCLA is going after Sark. The Seattle Times blog cited that, but never reported that UCLA is actually pursuing Sark. Many people up here are nervous that UCLA will go after Sark. However, the local journalists at KJR and Seattle Times are reporting that their sources are indicating Sark nipped any possible attempts by UCLA to entice him right away. (Main source cited are Seahawks guys close to Carroll, not sure how valid any of it is, to be honest).

Sark and Holt are in LA right now, recruiting together. If Sark didn’t want to come to USC last year, I don’t think he’s going to want to come to UCLA this year. But who knows?

Most people up here who seem to know what they’re talking about (i.e. John Clayton, Bob Condotta, etc.) seem to say they think Mora would do a good job for you and is the best choice left out there for you folks.

Good luck. I certainly think you don’t want Tressel in your program, fwiw.

Brock

I’m not saying ucla can’t recruit head to head with sc. It just makes more sense to me to go spread. We’re already half way there with the pistol.

Chris

Hey guys,

Thank God I found this site. I had spent a few days on Bruinsnation and it gets very old very quickly reading about how every single candidate is the worst choice. I was thinking of asking who they consider to be a good candidate but realized that that question would probably get me booted.

I don’t know if they’re expecting the second coming of Bear Bryant or what.

As far as Tressel is concerned, I think he would be great. However, could someone clear up whether UCLA would have to suffer the sanctions that were imposed on him? If so, I don’t think it’s worth it.

When do you start as the new AD Brock? Everyone could use your insight.

Need to go after Jim Svoboda hes been at UCLA before and knows what it takes to win. Hes now the Head Coach at Central Missouri. If he ran his Off. instead of someone elses he would of been the Head Coach there years ago. Check his profile out, great guy and coach.

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